Hello everyone. Yesterday it was the first time for me shooting sports. It was Volleyball. How the *** do professionals get solid photos with all the faces, people running around, athletes getting in your shot while you are focused on a subject, limited space etc? I took around 1300 photos. Only like 300 of them are usable. It was extremely tough anticipating the ball and trying to capture the action. And when I did… the faces… Oh my god. And not only that… it was women playing…you can imagine how many of the photos they will like. Some are pretty good athletic photos not gonna lie. And to my defense I had only one lens a 24-105 f/4. I am waiting for the new Sigma for Sony mount. I think it will help a lot. Anyway I would love some advice. Thank you.
Edit: By saying it was women I wasnt trying to be sexist at all. But my girlfriend was playing and when see saw the photos she would look at every minute detail of her body.
I shoot a lot of basketball and my hit rate is 10% on a good night.
Knowing the sport well really helps so you can anticipate the action. Knowing the players and their tendencies is also a huge help.
Start by trying to copy other people’s shots from volleyball then start finding your own style.
Have worked in sports photography for 10 years or so now! It takes a lot of practice, there’s a real art form in learning to follow the action and predict where the good photos are going to be. I would also argue it’s easier at a higher level. Pro athletes performing in well lit environment’s that are set up in a way for pro sports photographers to work produces better pictures much easier. Pro level gear makes the difference too, there’s a reason people spend tens of thousands on equipment. I think it’s a real issue with the industry that makes it hard to break through when starting out but that’s a whole other conversation!
Last biggest tip, don’t be afraid to crop in tight, its almost impossible to get clean action images in some sports but you can pick out clean pictures with a good crop!
Thank you very much for the tips!!! I guess yes gear here matters no matter what people say.
I would agree with this. Well lit professional environments are a huge plus. High School Volleyball is almost definitely the worst lol. And you start to get to know where and when things happen.
I shoot a lot of sports events and I use maybe 1-5% of shots taken
Professional sports photographers typically have sideline access or a dedicated press area where they only have a few people who might be walking in front of them.
You might find Jeff Cable’s blog here interesting. He does a lot of sports photography and shot the US olympics water polo team in Japan. It was a very interesting read to get his thoughts on how he managed to get some of his shots and the thought process that went into them.
Thank you very much. I will definetly check this out!!
I’ve photographed (indoor) volleyball for two seasons.
I used a zoom initially, but then settled on using 50mm and 35mm primes, depending on location (35mm court-side vs 50mm up in the bleachers). Then I crop photos liberally in post.
I typically keep the settings at 1/250, f5.6 or f8, and use auto ISO. I like the wider aperture to help focus the viewer on a specific player/scene, and the narrower aperture for photos that need multiple players in focus.
I mostly concentrate on a single player at a time (camera focused on player or location, not the ball), and use back button focus.
Also, at least for my camera (Nikon D780), I have to press the shutter slightly before when I think the photo needs to be taken. That could just be my reaction time and the speed of play, not the camera itself.
I typically take 100-300 shots a game, and narrow them down to 10-30 keepers.
Also, even if I like a photo compositionally or its a great action shot, I’ll delete the photo if it makes the player(s) look unflattering.
If you can move around, try different perspectives. From behind each team, at the net between both teams from the side and look for the best angles. You are the photographer, so find the best shots.
You must use f-stop lenses at or below f2.8.
When I’ve shot volleyball I get maybe 50-60% of the shots are keepers. I try to get faces between plays when they are smiling at each other or high fiving. Action shots are much harder but the more games you shoot, the better you get at anticipating good action. Maybe 1 in 3 are good. And I’ve found that if you can’t get faces, get butts. Your GF might not like that, but a spike from behind to me is easier to get and just as interesting as from the front…just saying.
Try NCAA Basketball and you will learn to hate Refs lol I know they don’t but it’s like they intentionally get in my shots and I have full access to where ever I want to shoot as long as I’m not on the actual court.
My last game I saved about 25 shots, my team lost bad and I lost interest in trying to get great shots of a loss. If you got 300 I’d say you did great.
Shoot low F stop, I shoot f/2.8 and try to focus on just the action, not what the team is doing. I do a lot of cropping also.
I guess maybe in the future i will find out!! although baskeball is not dominant in my country. I got 300 but now im reconsidering my choices! Yes i trid to capture some wide shots but it was a complete failure. Thank you for the tips.
I’m 100% convinced that one specific ref in our conference will intentionally stand in front of my for basketball. Then again he has been in the conference so long that it shows how bad he is (we’re low level D1 so anyone good enough moves out, hes been here a decade).
I’ve been shooting high school football (USA) for about 15 years, and I’ll typically shoot 1000-1300 shots, and deliver 150-250 to the team. My job is to try to get at least one good shot of every team member. If I was delivering for a newspaper, that would be winnowed to 50. For a print newspaper, probably 2-6 shots would see the light of day.
I’ll bet your 300 keepers will drop to far fewer upon further reviews.
What to do about repetitive shots? Try different angles. Put your camera on the floor and shoot upward (flip out screens help a lot). Shoot from high in the stands, or even from the rafters if you are allowed access. Get artsy and get a close up of the shoes if the player has written something on them. Reaction/celebration shots may be your best ones, don’t chimp your screen when the action stops.
As far as shooting young women, you can’t think about it too much when shooting but look closely while editing and culling. I once got a great shot of a cheerleader, at peak mid-air throw, four limbs fully extended, great face, everything was perfect, and you could clearly see the outline of her vulva though her clothes. But it was such a great shot! I showed my wife… no you can’t share that. I showed a pro photographer… no you can’t share that. Into the cull bin it went.
i see so typically you keep few of them… i guess i expected too much. It was like a normal gym type court nothing special. no backround,not great lighting etc. i couldnt move a lot plus i was afraid that the ball will hit my camera…i cannot afford that.! Thank you for the tips.
How the *** do professionals get solid photos with all the faces, people running around, athletes getting in your shot while you are focused on a subject, limited space etc?
Lots of practice, some luck
I took around 1300 photos. Only like 300 of them are usable.
That’s not a bad ratio
And when I did… the faces… Oh my god.
Why do you keep saying “the faces”? I’m missing the relevance.
Thank you for the reply. By faces i mean the athletes faces. they were all very aggressive to say the least !
The professionals only show us the keepers.
Volleyball isn’t easy. Try focusing through the net, ha ha. Tip- focus on the legs under the net.
Floating ISO as someone else mentioned can be help or hinder. The place I shoot has those LED video boards at the sideline tables. Get one of those in a shot and everything goes dark.
When you shoot, ask yourself what you are shooting. Faces? Bold action shots? One particular player? Your why doesn’t have to stay the same for the whole game. You can mix it up the entire game. If you want to get everything you’ll get nothing.
Keep shooting and you’ll get better.
Thank you for the tips! i tried to do that but the more i thought the more i was loosing all the action because i am not quick enough yet!! And yes from one side they had windows and most of my scenes were really dark.
I’d sing to the heavens for that kind of keeper rate, especially when inexperienced.
My first time shooting volleyball my keeper rate was just below 8%. Because of my inexperience, I did a lot of shotgun pictures.
My first game, I was taking pics for local small newspaper. I was expected to write an article to accompany the photos. After culling the photos, I fired up my writing brain. Then I released I didn’t know how many games were won (best of 3). I dod r know any players names. I didn’t know the final score of any of the games.
BIG learning curve.
Keep practicing and heed the advice given above. You will mess up sometime, we all have.
i will practise more !! My keeper rate was good but a lot of them are the same or some are not intresting enough but usable. Thank youi for the reply. I guess thats the process of learning. Fail and keep going!
I took around 1300 photos. Only like 300 of them are usable.
That’s not horrible. Remember, sports is fast moving and can be unpredictable at times. This isn’t family portraits or passport photos, you can’t control everything.
Volleyball is one of the toughest sports to shoot. If you get 30 images that are keepers you are doing well, 300 is fantastic.
Not bad for your first time. It should get more comfortable as you build up your experience through repetition. By watching how the players move should help you anticipate what they’ll do in certain situations and know where to be and when to shoot.
Low-light action photography isn’t easy but it can be pretty rewarding when you get some good shots.
If you’re going to be shooting an entire game, don’t stress over someone getting in the way (unless they’re a ref) because another chance will come along soon enough.
Sports photography is tough, most pros take hundreds of images in the hopes of getting 5 or six good images… don’t lose heart… you’ll get better!! Just shot often